1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a license plate lamp. More particularly, the present invention relates to achieving improvement of light utilization efficiency and the like by providing a control lens for controlling light emitted by a light emitting diode so that the light is radiated to the surface of a license plate.
2. Related Art
There have been license plate lamps for radiating light toward the surface of a license plate attached to a rear end of a vehicle body.
An example of such a license plate lamp is a license plate lamp using an incandescent bulb as a light source. However, incandescent bulbs have problems such as short life and high power consumption.
Accordingly, there has been recently proposed a license plate lamp using a light emitting diode (LED) as a light source instead of an incandescent bulb (e.g., see Patent Document 1). Light emitting diodes have longer life, smaller size, and lower power consumption than incandescent bulbs and are, therefore, expected to solve the problems of the incandescent bulbs.
In a license plate lamp using a light emitting diode as a light source as described in Patent Document 1, the light emitting diode has an optical axis extending in a front-back direction. Light emitted by the light emitting diode is reflected by a reflector, and the light thus reflected from the reflector is transmitted through a lens provided between the light emitting diode and a license plate and is radiated toward the surface of the license plate.
[Patent Document 1]
U.S. Pat. No. 7,222,998